jasonsager.dork.net

Shade Tree

2008-09-01T13:51:00.002-06:00

Back in my college days I had a black Honda Civic that'd never had any work done on it other than belts and oil changes. Before I gave it to my little sister, I thought having the timing belt changed would be a good idea....and a friend of a friend had a friend who'd do it at his house for a fraction of the cost.

Yeah, that didn't work out so well and all my sister got out of the deal was a car which never ran that well, leaked and burned oil, and she eventually left it on the side of the road in front of a car dealership when it broke down...and walked inside and bought a new car.

Yeah, gotta thank the big brother for that one.

It'll be curious to see how Mitchell's Allroad holds up to his home wrenching. I know I wouldn't touch mine like that.

Energy Usage

2008-08-31T13:52:00.005-06:00

Last weekend while flying home from Utah I was bored while waiting at the airport. I don't usually buy Outside magazine, I just look at the pictures. Unga. Cave man like cave pictures.

When I was done looking at the pictures, these other things caught my eye.

Letters. Words. Writing.

I read an article about the two iChat using editors and their slow-race of electrical consumption in their Santa Fe, NM, homes. These guys had an apparatus that gave real-time power usage and thus began a race, the guys running around their houses, shedding any and every component that wasn't needed on the power grid. Low light and energy use bulbs, unplugging unused energy sinks like cell phone chargers, televisions, computers, setting the fridge on balmy rather than frigid...you get the picture.

This compelled me to check our power usage here in Portland. Logging onto the electrical company's website showed more pretty pictures that reminded me of why I picked up Outside in the first place. Picture graphs and colorful charts.

The average American household uses, based my in-depth 30 second google search, shows about 1000 kwh of power usage, per month. That's average, including, I suppose, Al Gore. That compares to a year-long-to-date average, of the Sager household of 328 kwh, per month, in a 2000 sq' two story home that's poorly insulated, has a gas furnace, but otherwise all electrical appliances. Central A/C, included, which as been used this summer when we're not running the heat.

I used to take pride in how much I drove (for trips) and wore my car's odometer like a badge of pride.

The past few years have changed things...and now to consume less, is more. I still have a gas guzzling car, but it collects cob webs, except when I'm smoking through $100 in gas to earn $75 in a bike race. Home power usage, however wasn't something that I'd taken much note of, other than to not leave lights on in rooms that were empty. To realize we're using about 33% of the average amount, without trying to do so , is akin to stepping on the bathroom scale after the holidays and having lost weight despite eating whatever suited your fancy.

Here's a challege to the readers - check your monthly power usage. How do you stack up? What changes could you make to use less?

You can save money too, basically by doing your laundry in the middle of the night, and "buying/using" your power during off-peak hours:

on peak hours
winter 6-10am/5-8pm
summer 3-8pm

mid peak
summer 6-3pm
winter 8pm-10
winter 10-5pm
summer 8-10pm

off peak
summer 10pm-6am
winter 10-6am

At least I've been drinking free range organic water lately.

Brian Head wrap up

2008-08-26T17:16:00.004-06:00

The Juarez's....

Another day in the death zone

2008-08-22T19:17:00.002-06:00

Its been a busy few days...

Brian Head

2008-08-21T23:57:00.002-06:00

Freaky photo...panoramas with moving people in them are tough to pull off with my clapped out camera. It return from Transrockies with sticking buttons and a bolt missing.

I think I'll have to get a new camera with a strobe flash.

Red Bull helmet.

Small socks.

It low-tech at this race. No print outs of GPS routes. No maps in general...just check the table and make a mental note.

I wrote slightly more here.

Airports

2008-08-19T19:16:00.000-06:00

I've been working over here instead of on dork.net...Thursday its off to the death zone, also known, for this Cajun, as anything above 6000'.

Brian Head is at 10,050'.

I stumbled across these pics from Sea Otter, back in April.

Things didn't go so well for Blake's shins. Sorry, man.

Better You than Me

2008-08-16T08:22:00.002-06:00

I didn't go to Transrockies this year, obviously, but we at MonavieCannondale.com did consider it. Thankfully we weren't too drunk off Monavie active shots to keep reason and sense in perspective.

A few of my close buddies, Christian and Chris, among others, did lack that foresight and were subjected to this 60-90 minute scree hike/scramble, which of course, was off course. The mistake wasn't discovered until the first few teams reached the summit....and realized it was trail to nowhere.

I'm course marking-challenged when it comes to racing - if its not taped off, I don't turn. Let's just say I'm glad I wasn't responsible for making 200 people hike an hour in the wrong direction.

Thanks to mtbracenews for letting me pirate their photo. Without asking.

land-o-lakes

2008-08-14T20:03:00.002-06:00

No, not butter, but Minneapolis, MN.

My camera is still in Fernie, Alberta with TransRockies Stage 4, 94th Leask, Christian USA 9:38:35.25 who's in the middle of putting in what's turning out to be a 50+hour week on the bike. I would lament having to take photos with my phone...

But I'm too busy wincing while laughing at him for taking on such a horrible bike race. I'd only laugh harder at those that take on La Ruta, except its not cold in Costa Rica. That's a good one to chew on: What's worse - 4x6 hour days in the tropical bacteria infested mud, or 7x6 hour days in fridgid mud.

I don't have to do either this year. Celebrate.

On Tuesday before jumping on a plane, I had the opportunity to work with Tom Dipace, a well known and gracious photographer who's work has been on the cover of ESPN magazine, among other places. Not being a guy who's all that stellar looking or visually striking, its always a little awkward to be in a photo shoot....but this guy can make even me look menos mal. It must be something to do with having assistants and bringing a lot of gear to the shoot.

My favorite moment, having attracted a small crowd at one point, was after I'd finished riding a loop in the grass, a very excited woman asked what we were taking photos for.

Glamour Shots. I said, with a straight face, and sat quietly on the bike's top tube.

She stared. "Oh...ok" Then walked away.

The iPod is dead. Camera, walking in Canada somewhere.

100 miles in Minnesota: a camera phone documentary.

Fresh and glass-like pavement. Zero traffic.

Small town/open space pump tracks. Sorry about the bar-mounted Garmin. The stem mounts keep breaking. Stem mount=pro. Bar mount= MS150.

Two things you'll spend a lot of time riding on in Minnesota - lake bridges

and rails-to-trails paths.

Old churches. I visualize the year 1907 and its mid-winter. What's this place like?

It looks like some counties are catching up with other countries around the world. If you're going to build a big road, give it a big shoulder....

and give it rumble strips, where they're needed - on the white line.

tourista

2008-08-11T10:34:00.005-06:00

Things are slow around here...and while I've taken great pleasure in in laughing at my friends (and camera) who are racing in the rain and snow at the Trans Rockies, its tough to ignore the part of me that kinda/sorta wishes I was doing it, too, with them in the cold and rainy Canadian Rockies.

There were a pair of crits here in town that I'd considered doing, as its not often you can RIDE to a race rather than getting there in a car...but my shoe broke as I was heading to the first one, so we blew it off and went to the park instead, which is just as well because I might have been taken down by the rookie anyway...and that would have made me sad. I have a strong aversion to falling down. It gives me a rash.

The 2nd race of the weekend was less than a mile from the house. However, watching bicycle racing does nothing for me, to be honest. Not at this time in my life...sure, the Tour, etc, can be compelling, but that's a different sport. NORBAs, NRCs etc...that's my sport and I either want to be in it, doing it, or generally far from it because I'm, perceptively, at least, supposed to be doing it. And I wasn't feeling "it". Mid summer blues? Apathy? Hungry for cyclocross? Who knows...could I at least go, gasp, and spectate?

Squaring up to my fears and phobias, we packed the stroller and strolled down to the neighborhood crit to check it out...

It was...a Ghost Town.

I felt terrible...the crowds were small. Only a few spectators...and even fewer athletes.

Bike racing in the US needs to morph into something sustainable - hiding it off in the woods or in the remote corners of the county, where every one has to drive long distances and few-if-anyone from the public knows the event is even happening, is tanking the sport one weekend at a time. Events like downtown and neighborhood crits that cater to the folks that live in the area, to racers that BETTER NOT DRIVE to the race, and local businesses that see the weekend festival as something to get behind rather than avoid, will be a component to the future success and growth of racing and cycling in general.

I didn't compete, and that irritated that athlete in me, so we stretched my comfort zone a bit...and watched. Then spent some money in a couple of the booths to complete the of sponsorship, vendor, and customer.

So to the other Portlanders...where were you? And Evan Elkin, why did you drive, much less, solo?

On Sunday, Portland was hosting the Bridge Ride - most of the downtown bridges are closed to cars and it becomes a bicycle free-for-all. Ye-haw, ride every bridge you can with the freedom to wobble and weave in the street without fear of being run over by a car...and instead risk crashing and injury due to thousands of over weaving and wobbling people on two wheels.

No pictures...the camera is sitting in the back pocket of Christan Leask, who rather than spending 3 hrs completing the first stage of Trans Rockies, he and his partner spent 6hrs covering the same distance. Taking photos, I'm sure, occupied the additional time.

I stopped and napped on a bench along the river. It, too, was a ghost town. I believe everyone was either riding their bikes across the bridges, or sitting in cars, in traffic, because the bridges were closed.

And now we're about to get in a fight, in Georgia, with Russia, over a pipeline. Electric cars and local crits never looked so good.

Step off before I have to crack ya one

2008-08-07T00:22:00.000-06:00

Me gusta esta foto:

Summer. Finally.

2008-08-06T10:51:00.004-06:00

I'm not complaining, but I find humor in those who are...

About a month ago, and I'm reliving the glory of the olden days here, my teammate Bart and I shredded fern shrouded hike-a-bikes, stinging nettles, oppressive heat, vague course markings, and dehydration for 4 hours to win the first stage of the BC Bike Race. It was the glorious beginning to a pair of days in the leader's jersey before our slow decline away from the front of the race.

Often in big races, especially in areas that offer unique products...cheese, wine, women...whatever it was.

You would win your body weight in the local product in addition to a large monetary reward from the race promoter.

Digging deep into my cadre of prized possessions, today I unearthed that sweet prize that accompanied me home from Victoria Island:

A coveted, prized, specially aged 16 ounce bag of Kicking Horse Kick Ass coffee, shared between the both of us. Luckily Bart doesn't drink coffee. Less for him, more for me.

This 1 pound bag of coffee represents the reward for a week's worth of racing. Luckily since its so hot, I can't drink very much coffee at a time...this should last awhile.

I should have stuck with skateboarding. $100,000.00 first place prize money for a street skateboarding contest?!

Contest

2008-08-05T12:45:00.004-06:00

There's not much going on this week here on dork.net, but I have a little contest going on at MonavieCannondale.com if you're interested in checking it out.

Match the meal...

With the rider....

I received this little web questionnaire yesterday. Life's slow on here, so why not?

If you could have any one — and only one — bike in the world, what would it be?

Dumb question. A BMW 1200 GS Adventure...even though last time I looked at one, a big 6'6" German guy barked "BMW bikes are not for short people." The 800 would probably suit me better.

Do you already have that coveted dream bike? If so, is it everything you hoped it would be? If not, are you working toward getting it? If you’re not working toward getting it, why not?

Stop riding my case.

If you had to choose one — and only one — bike route to do every day for the rest of your life, what would it be, and why?

This sounds like marriage.

What kind of sick person would force another person to ride one and only one bike ride to to do for the rest of her / his life?

A fixie Portland hipster.

Do you ride both road and mountain bikes? If both, which do you prefer and why? If only one or the other, why are you so narrowminded?

I do road rides in my primal gear jerseys and mountain bike rides with shoe covers.

Have you ever ridden a recumbent? If so, why? If not, describe the circumstances under which you would ride a recumbent.

I've ridden inebriated. Does that count?

Have you ever raced a triathlon? If so, have you also ever tried strangling yourself with dental floss?

Respect. This is a two-time off road duathlon champ. No swimming. I'd rather swim than run, though.

Suppose you were forced to either give up ice cream or bicycles for the rest of your life. Which would you give up, and why?

What would be worse would be to be forced to either always wear gloves, or never wear gloves while riding.

What is a question you think this questionnaire should have asked, but has not? Also, answer it.

Which hand reaches for your bottle the most often, and can you drink from the other?

-Right, and hardly with the left.

You’re riding your bike in the wilderness (if you’re a roadie, you’re on a road, but otherwise the surroundings are quite wilderness-like) and you see a bear. The bear sees you. What do you do?

Wave.

Two steps to putting bike racing behind you

2008-08-04T10:20:00.003-06:00

Oh Renshaw....maybe going back to school won't seem so bad after all...

bakfiets

2008-08-02T15:56:00.001-06:00

I need someone to build/get me one of these for an affordable price. Any takers?

Canadian musings

2008-07-30T23:49:00.004-06:00

I always try and abide by the rule of never spend more time in the car than you'll be able to spend on the bike. You'd think that this would be a safe bet with a 24 hour solo event...but judging by some of the number plate's designated "homes", they're probably going to be upside down on the travel/ride ratio.

I took one member of my pit crew to the hot springs...he wasn't that into it.

There also was a cold tub adjacent to the hot springs. from 108* to 50*. Yes, I soaked in both. Running made me that sore.

The support crew - Portland's own John from Cannondale pulled the longest shift of anyone on the team in Canmore. Pit support when its dry is one thing, but somehow the storms hit ten minutes into 3 or 4 of my 7 laps...and when it wasn't raining, it was muddy for everyone else, too. Thanks John.

Only because I could/not because it was needed...I ran a dual set of Enduro Maxx lights from Exposure Lights. It was over kill and suitable for blinding bears and cooking small mammals on the course. Especially helpful at 6mph in the mud.

2008-07-30T14:17:00.002-06:00

The famed Treo 700w that has tortured me for many months is now officially a thing of the past.

It has been retired and replaced with a real grown-up phone. I could probably ebay the thing to some unsuspecting SMS hound for upwards of $100. But, I'd get far more satisfaction by smashing the thing into a million little pieces in the middle of the street (or the Verizon lobby for that matter).

Canadian photos

2008-07-28T19:03:00.002-06:00

Take only their lumber, leave only trash, right?

The race venue, during sunnier times.

More typical times.

Night times...

Tourist times.

Banff

2008-07-27T22:21:00.004-06:00

The scenery in Canada is awfully nice, eh? Those mountains to the left of center were rad at sunrise.

I watched the local Canmore Strong Person Competition. Drive three 36" stakes into the ground in 30 minutes or less.

Bear country.

More about the weekend here..

Fernie, BC

2008-07-25T07:41:00.001-06:00

I'm starting to get used to it up here.

A day in the great white north.

2008-07-24T00:01:00.003-06:00

Racing dudes in Ferrari's with Barbie blondes riding shot gun.

Berries for a dollar (Canadian) straight from bear country. My wife has a bear phobia as if the creatures are lurking behind any and every bush, waiting to pounce like a crack fiend waiting for his pusher to arrive at the corner stop. Or bike racers at the BC Bike Race buffet when the pan of apple cobbler was being refreshed.

Keeping aero and bug free.

Some how for the first time in 10 years I locked my keys in my car, eh.

Canmore, Alberta

2008-07-23T08:31:00.002-06:00

Off to Canada....

I'll be helping with updating the 24Hours Adrenalin live race feed in between burning laps this weekend. Wish me luck with that!

I better bring my bear bell.

riding in the hood

2008-07-13T23:17:00.007-06:00

No net. No phone. No tv. Yeah...

Congrats, Tood Weels. Winning on your semi-home turf is the best way to do it.

Me and my boy did some reading this weekend over morning coffee and sunrise. My left shoulder is still gimp.

But that didn't stop me from touring Mt. Hood later in the day.

No Vermont for me. I'll stay home and do more of this.

Ok. That's enough baby pics, eh?

Renshaw went to China last week. He's still there...I've been interested in the Tour of Qinghai Lake, but its far too high for my fragile genetics. A shame...since MonavieCannondale as been invited to a bike event in Tibet...and its start is above 4000 meters!

Tuesday's Quandry.

2008-07-08T20:16:00.003-06:00

Questioning the validity of a panda bear as a worthy distraction while conjunctively ruminating upon the existential conundrum of being distracted...or choosing one's own distraction such that it betters the day or simply passes the day.

Pensive, indeed! Jonah shall reign.

I love how the term "blogging" has such disdain now among most people...like, such that its a word you fling on someone when you're sipping on the Hateraide. So, yeah, I haven't been blogging much...but I can update my website like nobody's bidness.

Last Friday Bart and I wrapped up the BC race. The last day was on some of the most fun trails of the week, the kind of stuff you'd go out and ride for fun on a Tuesday afternoon...well, except without the torn shoulder tendons I was riding with. Ouch. Those will keep me at home for a bit.

I hate being in such cool places and not really having seen much of the area...who goes to Whistler, stays at a plush hotel and leaves at 7am?

Seamus was riding a pair of new wheels that are for the Olympics. Carbon fibre straws seem like a bad idea to me, especially since these have already broken.

The awards dinner for the BC race was done proper. I ate at least 2000 calories. Of desert.

Congrats to Wicks and Sneedon for winning. Nothing beats winning at home...except fixies and roller blades.

stage 6

2008-07-03T18:12:00.002-06:00

We rode rad trails today. Pics won't do it justice. You should visit Squamish.

write up.

Stage 5

2008-07-02T18:46:00.002-06:00

I "bumped" into a tree on about 20min from the finish today and though it feels like I did, somehow I didn't break my shoulder, collar bone, or anything else...though I couldn't be any less mobile.

What started as a play day ended up not being too bad...2nd on the stage and hopefully I can ride a bike on Thursday.

Sneedon is leading his home providence race on a stage that finished and later started in his home town. Cool.

Some of these starts kinda suck. Everyone wants to be a hero...can't they just relax?

I was really proud of Nat. I was trying to trick him by talking about beers...and he was able to do math. Maybe he can only do math because we were talking about beer.

Dre. He made a strong split early on of Seamus, Shep, Plaxton, and myself...big guy was climbing strong. So strong his bike couldn't handle the watts.

Seamus is going to China in August. He doesn't even seem to be trying in this race...but then again, he and Shep are on the the every other day program.

Trek guys. I like the Trek guys, but I like even more working them over. You won't see us initiating attacks when folks flat or at water stations or when exiting raging rivers...no names mentioned.

Props to Kona and their boys...but they're damn lucky we flatted on day two...though I suppose we all have our battles out there. Doesn't hurt when you grew up on the trails we're using, either.

whittling down things...with us having missed yet another turn, kona was gone...so we worked through traffic until none remained.